Ravens’ Joe Flacco on Ray Rice, Baltimore’s offense, Texans’ defense

Flacco on if he will have to adjust his gameplan or anything with FS Ed Reed on the other side: “Not really. We’re going to have to go out there and execute our gameplan no matter what. Obviously, he’s a good player back there and we understand what he can do, but you can’t let him dictate the whole gameplan. Maybe a couple plays here and there, but you just have to make sure that you go out there and play your game and play smart and go through your reads, run routes well and all that stuff. Just like any other good player, they may make their plays; we just have to make sure we limit them.”

How hard it will be to play without RB Ray Rice: “We don’t have very many guys at that position right now, so we’re going to have to go with what we have and make the best of it. We’ll see what happens. We’ll adjust and we’ll be ready to go. We’ve been dealing with a lot of that stuff lately and we just have to find a way.”

What is missing when RB Ray Rice is not on the field: “Ray is a veteran running back now. He’s gives you a lot of confidence back there because he runs the ball and he runs good routes when he needs to. One of the toughest things is he is very good at picking up who he needs to be picking up in blitzes and protection. When you have guys that aren’t as experienced as he is with that, then you can run into a little bit of a problem.”

How things are going offensively for the Ravens right now: “I think it is always a work in progress, but we have the ability and we have guys getting more and more comfortable. I think it’s always a work in progress in the offseason, always, no matter what your situation is just because you always have to be getting better and better. Obviously, our situation is a little bit different now than we thought it may be and I think we’re just trying to adapt right now and work hard and I think we’re doing a good job. We’re going to get there. We still have some work to do, but we’re really starting to get confident I think. Guys are really starting to play quickly and play confidently and really play with that sureness of what they’re supposed to be doing which is what you need to play fast.”

If it will be weird or strange to see FS Ed Reed on the other side of the line on Sunday: “Yeah, it will definitely. I’m used to seeing him across from me, but it will be different being that he’s in a different uniform. It will definitely be a little weird to see him in the Texans uniform.”

If this is a different Texans team than they’ve seen in the past and if he sees a different mentality with this team than in the past: “I don’t think so. They’ve been a good team. They’ve just done what they’ve had to win the last couple of games. We’ve played these guys a good amount over the last couple of years and the biggest thing that they’ve done, since early on in my career, is they have just gotten to the point where they are a really physical football team and they continue to be that. We’re going to have to continue to make sure that we do things to combat it.”